88Xuansha's Three Invalids

Introduction 垂示

門庭施設，且恁麼破二作三；入理深談，也須是七穿八穴。當機敲點，擊碎金鎖玄關；據令而行，直得掃蹤滅跡。且道：誵訛在什麼處？具頂門眼者，請試舉看。

Set up the gate and the courtyard, fine. Break two into three. Dive into deep talk about the principle, but you'd better be riddled with openings on every side. Meet the moment head-on, smash the golden lock and the secret gate, run the whole show by command until every footprint is wiped clean. Now tell me: where's the catch hiding? Anyone with an eye in the crown of his head, try and see.

玄沙示眾云：「諸方老宿盡道接物利生，忽遇三種病人來，作麼生接？患盲者，拈鎚竪拂，他又不見；患聾者，語言三昧，他又不聞；患啞者，教伊說，又說不得。且作麼生接？若接此人不得，佛法無靈驗。」僧請益雲門，雲門云：「汝禮拜著。」僧禮拜起，雲門以拄杖挃，僧退後。門云：「汝不是患盲。」復喚：「近前來。」僧近前。門云：「汝不是患聾。」門乃云：「還會麼？」僧云：「不會。」門云：「汝不是患啞。」僧於此有省。

Xuansha addressed the assembly: "All over the country the old masters say they take in beings and do them good. So tell me, three sick people show up. How do you take them in? The blind one: you hold up a mallet, you raise a whisk, but he can't see it. The deaf one: you've every trick of speech, but he can't hear it. The mute one: tell him to talk, and not a word comes out. So how do you take them in? If you can't take these people in, then the Buddha's teaching has no power at all."

A monk asked Yunmen about this. Yunmen said, "Bow." The monk bowed and stood up. Yunmen jabbed at him with his staff, and the monk jumped back. Yunmen said, "So you're not blind." Then he called him: "Come closer." The monk came closer. Yunmen said, "So you're not deaf." Then Yunmen said, "Got it?" The monk said, "No." Yunmen said, "So you're not mute." At this the monk had an opening.

Verse 頌

盲聾瘖啞，
杳絕機宜。
天上天下，
堪笑堪悲。
離婁不辨正色，
師曠豈識玄絲。
爭如獨坐虛窓下，
葉落花開自有時。

Blind, deaf, mute,
past every clever fix.
Heaven above, earth below:
something to laugh at, something to mourn.
Lilou could not pick out the true colors;
how would Shikuang know the hidden string?
Better to sit alone at an empty window:
leaves fall, flowers open, each in its own time.

Pointer

Xuansha was a Tang master and Yunmen lived 864–949 into the Five Dynasties; "taking in beings" is teacher-talk for waking students up. A teacher normally reaches you through what you can see, by holding up an object, what you can hear, with a sharp word, or what you can say, in a back-and-forth. So Xuansha sets the trap: what about someone blind, deaf, and mute, with no door left to knock on? It is not really about disability, it is that real seeing and hearing and speaking do not run on eyes, ears, and tongue, and if your whole teaching leans on those channels you have nothing when they fail. Yunmen's reply makes the monk see, jump, and answer before he can think, proving he was never actually one of the three invalids. In the verse, Lilou with legendary eyes and Shikuang with a legendary ear are the ancient gold standards, and even they come up short, which is the joke. The empty window is the punchline: quit straining the senses and the world shows up on its own.